Reading faces Cougars, trying to win away pain

That's the plan for Reading High tonight as it takes the court at Harrisburg for the start of the District 3-AAAA playoffs, one week after a stunning loss to Schuylkill Valley in the Berks Conference semifinals.

The ninth-seeded Red Knights (17-7) will be playing for their season against the eighth-seeded Cougars (16-5).

Lose and their season is over.

Win and they advance to the quarterfinals, likely against top-seeded Central Dauphin, and with hopes alive of making the PIAA Tournament for a third straight season. The top seven advance to states, meaning the Knights need to win two games to get there.

The first won't be easy. Harrisburg beat Reading 61-51 in late January at the Geigle Classic Shoot-Out, a game that saw Red Knights star Jalan Branford score a career-high 25 points but get outdueled by Harrisburg's Haiishen McIntyre, who had 30.

Safe to say the Knights are anxious to get back on the court in an attempt to erase the memories from a 40-point performance by Cornell Yarde in that 79-72 loss to Schuylkill Valley.

"Our season's on the line," said first-year coach Rick Perez. "The situation that happened last week there's a lot of things at stake here. We have to come out and play with that sense of urgency.

"We've been using the term we want to win away the pain; we want to win away the frustration. This (loss to Schuylkill Valley) will always be a thorn in our history. We can ease that pain in getting a win and getting back to Giant Center (for the quarterfinals)."

Perez said his team was shocked not to reach the Berks title game after having won four straight county titles. They got in the gym the next day, he said, and practiced hard. No looking back, no feeling sorry for themselves.

"We don't want to go out like that," Perez said. "We're better than that. This can't be end of the road."

The Knights figure to have added motivation for this rematch. They didn't appreciate the way the Cougars celebrated on their home court last month. That mental note should help ratchet up the emotions tonight.

"I think we all are upset about that," Perez said.

Reading led at halftime in the first game and kept it close until the final minute when things unraveled. The Red Knights showed their youthfulness that night. They also played without a pair of guards, Meme Burdine and Nick Batista, who figure to be in the lineup tonight.

Perez wants a more aggressive approach this time.

"When we came out last time, we didn't inflict our will on them," he said. "We're gonna come out from the tip and establish the physical aggressiveness."